![]() ![]() 1200, originally of marriage but also of real estate. To have and to hold have been paired alliteratively at least since c. To hold (one's) horses "be patient" is from 1842, American English the notion is of keeping a tight grip on the reins. To hold (someone's) hand in the figurative sense of "give moral support" is from 1935. To hold (one's) tongue "be silent" is from c. as "to maintain one's course," 1830 as "to keep one's grip on something," 1846 as an order to wait or stop. Hold back in the figurative senses is from 1530s (transitive) 1570s (intransitive). ![]() The modern use in the sense "lock up, keep in custody" is from 1903. The original past participle holden was replaced by held beginning 16c., but survives in some legal jargon and in beholden. Middle English holden, earlier halden, from Old English haldan (Anglian), healdan (West Saxon), "to contain to grasp to retain (liquid, etc.) to observe, fulfill (a custom, etc.) to have as one's own to have in mind (of opinions, etc.) to possess, control, rule to detain, lock up to foster, cherish, keep watch over to continue in existence or action to keep back from action," class VII strong verb (past tense heold, past participle healden), from Proto-Germanic *haldanan (source also of Old Saxon haldan, Old Frisian halda, Old Norse halda, Dutch houden, German halten "to hold," Gothic haldan "to tend").īased on the Gothic sense (also present as a secondary sense in Old English), the verb is presumed originally in Germanic to have meant "to keep, tend, watch over" (as grazing cattle), later "to have." Ancestral sense is preserved in behold. To fast talk someone (v.) is recorded by 1946. ![]() The expression fast by "near, close, beside" also is said to be from Scandinavian. Or perhaps from the notion of a runner who "sticks" close to whatever he is chasing (compare Old Danish fast "much, swiftly, at once, near to, almost," and sense evolution of German fix "fast, fixed fast, quick, nimble," from Latin fixus). 1200, probably from or developed under influence of Old Norse fast "firmly, fast." This sense developed, apparently in Scandinavian, from that of "firmly, strongly, vigorously" ( to run hard means the same as to run fast also compare fast asleep, also compare Old Norse drekka fast "to drink hard," telja fast "to give (someone) a severe lesson"). The meaning "quickly, swiftly, rapidly" was perhaps in Old English, certainly by c. Old English fæste "firmly, securely strictly " also, perhaps, "speedily," from Proto-Germanic *fasto (source also of Old Saxon fasto, Old Frisian feste, Dutch vast, Old High German fasto, German fast "almost," but in earlier use "firmly, immovably, strongly, very"), from *fastu- (adj.) "firm, fast" (see fast (adj.)).
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